ANDREW  H.  GREEN, 

CANDIDATE  FOR  MAYOR. 


iEx  IGtbrtB 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


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ROOMS 

or  THE 

INDEPENDENT  CITIZENS'  COMMITTEE, 

No.   166   FIFTH  AVENUE. 

\/  TO  THE  CITIZENS  OF  NEW  YORK. 


PROGRESSIVE  REFORM,  AS  ILLUSTRATED  IX  THE  FUBLIC 
SERVICES  OF  ANDREW  H.  GREEN. 


NXW  York,  October  21,  1876. 

Andkkw  H.  Grkex  was  born  at  Green  Hill,  Worcester.  Massachusetts,  in 
the  homestead  which  has  been  the  dwelling  place  of  his  family  for  five  genera- 
tions. His  early  years  were  spent  in  this  spot,  fragrant  with  domestic  recol- 
lections ;  and  his  education  carried  on  at  the  academy  in  Worcester,  with  a  view 
to  his  future  entrance  into  West  Point  through  the  expected  appointment  by  his 
mother's  relative,  Gov.  Win.  L.  Marcy.  This  plan,  however,  was  ultimately 
abandoned,  and  it  was  decided  that  he  should  go  to  New  York,  where  his  father 
had  in  early  life  studied  law,  and  where  a  large  circle  of  his  family  connections 
still  had  their  residence. 

Accordingly,  before  his  boyhood  had  fairly  passed,  he  left  the  retirement  of 
his  father's  home,  and  the  peaceful  occupations  in  which  his  life  had  hitherto 
been  engaged,  for  the  busier  scenes  and  more  active  engagements  of  the  metro- 
polis. 

On  arrival  at  New  York,  he  was  employed  in  a  prominent  business  house,  oc- 
cupying there  at  first  the  place  of  junior  clerk,  and  rising,  by  dint  of  intelligent 
application,  to  a  chief  position  among  the  employees.  His  further  progress  in 
this  direction,  however,  was  checked  by  the  suspension  of  the  firm,  during 
the  panic  of  1S.T7,  with  no  promise  of  resumption  and  no  business  outlook 
for  those  whom  it  had  employed. 

Dur.ng  the  <lepres>ion  in  trade  which  followed,  Mr.  Green  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  trawl,  and  spent  a  year  in  the  West  Indies,  dwelling  for  a  considerable 
time  on  the  \  lantations,  and  acquainting  himself  thoroughly  with  the  processes 
of  growing  and  making  sugar.  Here  also  he  found  a  congenial  study  in  the  luxu- 
riant vegetation  of  the  tropics,  and  s  >  built  upon  the  knowledge  he  had  already 
acquired  of  the  woods  and  fields  of  his  native  country.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
these  experiences  gave  a  direction  and  stimulus  to  the  taste  for  landscape 


4 


gardening  and  arboriculture  which  afterwards  found  such  ample  scope  and  such 
admirable  expression  in  the  construction  of  Central  Park. 

On  his  return  from  the  West  Indies,  Mr.  Green's  acquaintance  with  New 
York,  and  its  opportunities  having  so  much  increased  since  his  first  introduction 
there,  and  his  knowledge  of  his  own  preferences  and  tastes  having  assumed  so 
much  clearer  form,  he  was  the  better  able  to  settle  definitively  upon  an 
occupation ;  and  being  impressed  with  the  advantages  of  a  professional  career, 
he  accordingly  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law. 

In  the  transactions  of  the  American  Agricultural  Association,  Mr.  Green  about 
this  time  took  an  active  interest,  contributing  some  valuable  papers  on  agricul- 
tural subjects.  While  so  engaged,  Mr.  Green  began  to  take  an  active  interest 
in  educational  matters,  and  for  a  time  filled  the  office  of  School  Trustee  in  the 
Fourteenth  Ward,  being  subsequently,  in  the  year  18o4,  elected  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  and  then  President  of  the  Board. 

That  Mr.  Green's  mind  had  been  for  a  long  time  concerned  with  public: 
interests,  that  he  had  arrived  at  a  correct  apprehension  of  the  abuses  then 
existing  in  the  local  government,  and  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  to  result 
therefrom,  and  that  his  judgment  in  these  absorbing  affairs  had,  in  com- 
paratively early  life,  reached  a  maturity  which  qualified  him  in  no  small  degree 
for  positions  of  public  trust  and  confidence,  appears  in  his  public  addresses  of 
that  time,  mainly  delivered  before  the  Board  of  Education. 

Those  were  the  days  when  the  Mayoralty  of  the  City  of  New  York  was  filled 
by  Fernando  Wood,  the  scandals  of  whose  administration  are  still  fresh  in  the 
memory  of  men,  and  were  at  that  time  conspiciious  enough  to  excite  the  most 
alarming  apprehensions  on  the  part  of  public -spirited  citizens. 

The  following  extract  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Education  for 
1855,  written  by  Mr.  Green  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  is  no  less  a  commen- 
tary upon  the  evils  then  existing  than  a  prophecy  of  what  might  be  looked  for  in 
the  future : 

"  It  needs  not  that  anything  be  here  said  on  the  enormous  and  extravagant 
"  cost  of  maintaining  our  city  government.  The  people  see  and  feel  this  at  every 
' 1  turn.  The  poor  man.  wearied  with  six  days'  toil,  thankful  for  even  the  scanty 
' '  repast  that  is  spread  for  himself,  his  companion,  and  their  little  ones,  as  surely 
"  counts  out  of  his  weekly  wages  a  portion  for  the  dishonesty  and  corruption 
''that  riot  in  our  municipal  affairs,  as  though  he  actually  dropped  h's  coin 
"  into  the  palm  of  their  vulgar,  perfumed  and  jewelried  representative. 

' '  The  laboring  masses  of  this  great  city  need  to  reflect  on  this.  Those  com- 
"  forts  and  luxuries  which  result  from  the  gains  of  honest  industry  and  frugality 
"•are  sanctioned  by  society;  their  possessor  rightly  enjoys  the  fruits  of  his  own 
' '  labor  without  envy ;  but  the  equipage  guided  by  the  same  hand  that  has  rob- 
' '  bed  the  humble  pedestrian  of  his  wages  is  odious  in  his  sight  as  it  rolls  along, 
"  flinging  from  its  swift  wheels  the  dirt  of  the  highway  upon  his  garment. 

"  It  is  the  duty  of  every  reflecting  man  to  examine  into  the  public  expendi- 
li  tures,  and  discriminate  in  his  judgments  upon  those  who  preside  over  them. 
"  Our  public  affairs  require  the  supervision  and  aid  of  experienced,  able  and  faith- 


5 


"  M  men;  and  it  is  altogether  wrong  that  the  public  servant  who  faithfully 
"  discharges  his  duty  should  be  overwhelmed  with  the  same  contempt  and  abvfM 
u  that  is  heaped  upon  the  faithless  and  corrupt.  Indiscriminate  abuse  and  op- 
11  probrium  never  will  effect  a  remedy  for  these  evils,  and  no  relief  will  be  se- 
"  cured  until  the  public  intelligence  shall  honor  the  officer  to  whom  honor 
4  belongs,  and  disgrace  the  man  who  deserves  it,  and  disgrace  him  in  such  a 
"  manner  as  that  his  ill-gotten  gains  shall  be  a  constant  reproach  to  him.*1 

In  the  same  report  he  urges  a  wise  and  economical  expenditure  of  the  money 
intrusted  to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  a  judicious  administration  of  the 
school  system,  as  the  surest  method  of  commending  it  to  the  people,  and  en- 
listing their  confidence  and  interest  in  its  support. 

"  Could  tax-payers  of  this  city,"  he  says,  4ibe  shown  that  the  appropriations 
'  for  the  support  of  the  common  schools  of  the  city  are  judiciously  applied— that 
"  there  is  no  wastefulness  or  extravagance — that  every  dollar  expended  by  the 
"  Board  is  expended  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  it  go  the  farthest  in  doing  its 
•  •  woik ;  that  our  teachers  are  paid  somewhat  in  accordance  with  the  value  of  the 
ki  services  they  render,  and  with  some  reference  to  competency  ;  that  locations 
"  of  new  schools  are  made  with  main  reference  to  the  convenience  of  the 
u  people,  and  that  our  school  structures  are  well  planned,  and  thoroughly  and 
14  economically  constructed;  then  we  should  hear  no  complaint  of  the  cost  of 
'*  the  schools,  no  charge  of  extravagance,  and  no  disatisfaction  with  the  admiu- 
,k  istration  of  the  system." 

It  was  in  the  following  year  that  Mr.  Green  was  chosen  President  of  the 
Board,  and  in  his  address  on  the  occasion  of  his  election,  he  expressed  himself 
with  great  clearness  and  intelligent  discrimination  on  the  various  prominent 
features  of  the  school  system;  while  in  subsequent  reports  and  addresses  his 
sentiments  on  these  and  kindred  topics  were  as  clearly  enunciated. 

u  Irenew  the  recommendation, "  he  says  in  an  address  in  ';  made  in  a 

former  communication  to  this  Board  concerning  a  wider  provision  in  the 
■  Academy  for  the  study  of  the  German  language  and  literature. 

"'  Of  the  population  of  this  city,  fully  one-eighth  traces  its  origin  to  Germany. 
M  More  than  thirty  religious  congregations — and  among  them  are  those  as  large 

as  any  in  the  city—  are  instructed  in  the  German  language  from  the  pulpit. 

4"  The  :elations  between  this  country  and  Germany  are  becoming  yearly  more 
"  intimate  ;  the  emigration  from  Germany  is  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
11  country.  Ten  newspapers  are  printed  in  the  German  language  in  this  city. 
"  and  its  literature  is  not  surpassed,  in  extent  or  richness,  by  that  of  any  nation 
"in  the  word.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  language  of 
"  this  importance  to  our  citizens,  in  a  business  and  literary  point  of  view,  should 
"occupy  a  position  less  subordinate  in  the  academical  course,  :m<l  that  it  is  a 
"  duty  of  thisBoard  to  afford  the  students  of  the  Academy  greater  facilities  for 
11  its  acquirement.'' 

In  the  same  address,  delivered,  it  will  be  recollected,  nearly  twenty  years  ago, 
ho  alludes  to  the  subject  of  State  taxes  in  the  following  language  : 

11  Mi  these  general  State  taxes  operate  unequally  upon  this  and  other  kcali- 


6 


' '  ties  of  the  State  in  several  particulars.  Where  property  is  aggregated  as  in 
"  cities,  it  is  more  easily  ascertainable,  and  the  valuation  upon  which  the  tax  is 
"  based  is  much  higher  than  that  placed  upon  property  in  other  parts  of  the  State. 

' ;  Indeed  the  valuations  placed  upon  property  throughout  the  State  are  un- 
"  equal,  and  so  palpably  unjust,  as  to  demand  the  immediate  application  of  the 
"  simple  remedy  that  would  be  furnished  by  the  appointment  by  a  Board  of 
"  State  Assessors,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  equalize  the  county  valuations. 

"  It  is  easy  to  see  that  where  a  tax  to  be  borne  equally  throughout  the  State, 
"  is  raised  by  a  percentage,  the  valuation  made  by  counties,  the  tendency  is 
"  to  reduce  county  values  to  escape  the  fair  proportion  of  the  burden  of  the 
u  State  tax. 

"  A  farm  of  equal  value  with  one  lying  in  an  adjoining  county  is  valued  fifty 
"  per  cent  less.  It  may  be  urged  that  this  is  a  remote  matter,  that  neither  con- 
"  cems  the  operations  of  this  Board,  nor  calls  for  any  action  on  its  part.  It  is 
"  neither  remote  nor  unimportant.  In  1856,  this  law  authorizing  a  percentage 
"  for  educational  purposes  was  passed  ;  it  affects  this  city  seriously,  and  it  is  at 
"  least  the  right  of  this  Board  to  notice  legislative  action  for  educational  pur- 
u  poses  that  so  palpably  affects  the  interests  of  this  city." 

All  these  extracts  indicate  the  keen  foresight  with  which  Mr.  Green  regarded 
the  future  of  this  community,  the  large  appreciation  which  he  had  of  its  ne- 
cessities, and  his  eminent  fitness  for  the  larger  field  of  official  usefulness  to  which 
at  that  period  he  just  had  been  called 

In  the  year  1357,  Mr.  Green,  while  at  the  same  time  President  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  Commissioner  of  Central  Park.  His 
entrance  upon  this  latter  field  of  duty  was  unexpected.  He  shrunk  from 
this,  as  he  did  fourteen  years  later  from  the  call  that  brought  him  still  more 
prominently  to  the  front,  not  from  any  unwillingness  to  aid  in  promoting  the 
public  good,  but  with  a  clearer  apprehension  than  others  possessed  of  the  scope 
of  the  work,  of  its  large  responsibilities,  and  of  the  absorbing  demands  which 
it  would,  in  all  probability,  make  upon  his  future  life. 

At  that  time  the  science  of  landscaj)e-gardening  in  this  country  was  in  its  in- 
cipiency.  In  no  country,  indeed,  had  it  ever  been  studied  or  developed  in  any 
systematic  way,  or  its  knowledge  combined  in  any  one  person,  with  administra- 
tive skill  The  laying  out  of  the  Central  Park  was  an  undertaking  without  pre- 
cedent in  America — it  might  be  said,  in  the  world — a  venture  upon  untried 
ground,  the  more  hazardous  because  of  the  unpromising  nature  of  the  field,  and 
the  discouraging  obstacles  it  presented  to  any  artistic  treatment. 

The  work,  as  Mr.  Green  clearly  foresaw,  would  involve  the  organization  of  a 
force  of  architects,  engineers,  gardeners,  skilled  and  ordinary  laborers,  on  an 
altogether  novel  plan,  the  constantly  varying  features  of  which  would  require 
the  exercise  of  inventive  skill  and  executive  genius  on  the  part  of  some  one 
mind  which  should  direct  and  operate  the  whole. 

Nor  was  he  mistaken.  Under  the  act  of  April  17,  1857,  the  "full  and  ex- 
clusive power  to  govern,  manage,  and  direct  the  Central  Park,"  devolved  upon 
a  Board  of  eleven  Commissioners,  of  whom  Mr.  Green  was  one,  his  name  being 


7 


included  among  the  number  at  the  instance  of  the  late  Dean  Richmond,  without 
Mr.  Green's  knowledge,  and  at  the  very  time  when  he  himself  was  trying  in 
New  York  to  induce  the  late  Mr.  Havemeyer  to  accept  the  office.  Not  long 
after  the  organization  of  the  Board,  he  was  elected  its  Treasurer,  and  a  year  later, 
as  the  administration  of  the  Park  grew  on  his  own  hands,  both  Treasurer  and 
President.  The  office  of  Treasurer,  he  held  with  but  four  or  five  months  inter- 
mission, for  the  ensuing  twelve  years  ;  that  of  President  he  exchanged  a  year 
later  for  the  office  of  Comptroller  of  the  Park,  a  position  which  was  created  for 
his  occupancy,  and  involved  the  executive  management  of  all  the  affairs  of  the 
Park. 

Thenceforth  Mr.  Green  devoted  to  this  work  all  his  time  and  energies,  and, 
though  the  relinquishment  of  his  other  business  required  no  little  sacrifice,  the 
field  to  which  he  had  been  called  was  not  altogether  an  uncongenial  one. 
Here  he  found  opportunity  for  the  development  of  those  finer  and  more  artistic 
tastes,  which  for  so  many  years  he  had  necessarily  subordinated  to  his  profes- 
sional duties,  and  for  the  exercise  of  that  executive  ability  which  he  possessed 
in  such  large  measure,  and  which  had  not  until  then  found  an  adequate  field. 

Under  Mr.  Green's  direction  the  Park  Commission  rapidly  commended  itself  to 
public  favor  and  confidence.  The  people  early  began  to  enjoy  the  Park,  which 
it  had  been  thought  would  only  serve  for  the  use  of  a  succeeding  generation, 
and  as  its  growth  began  to  stimulate  the  development  of  the  adjacent  territory, 
the  Board  \Vas  charged  by  the  Legislature  with  various  functions  beyond  those 
originally  contemplated.  Powers  were  conferred  upon  it,  to  lay  out  the  north 
end  of  the  island ;  to  survey  and  lay  out  the  lower  part  of  Westchester  County  ; 
to  devise  plans  for  the  improvement  of  Harlem  river  and  Spuyten  Duyvil  creek, 
and  for  the  location  of  bridges  across  the  same ;  to  establish  and  define  the 
bulkhead  lines  on  the  North  river,  north  of  Fifty-fifth  street;  and  to  survey 
and  lay  out  that  part  of  the  island  lying  west  of  Eighth  avenue  and  south  of  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth  street.  On  all  these  subjects,  Mr.  Green  made  exhaus- 
tive reports  to  the  Board,  prepared  with  great  care,  after  personal  examination 
of  the  various  districts  involved.  These  reports  became  a  recognized  authority  on 
the  subject,  and  were  made  the  basis  of  future  operations  by  the  Park  Board. 
The  United  States  government,  indeed,  in  its  recent  surveys  of  the  Harlem  river, 
under  the  direction  of  General  Newton,  availed  itself  largely  of  Mr.  Green's 
previous  investigations. 

The  Park  also  became  the  objective  point  of  various  metropolitan  entorpist  s, 
for  which  a  necessity  had  long  been  felt,  and  which  only  awaited  some  such 
opportunity  as  this  to  spring  into  life.  It  is  not  improper  to  claim  both  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History  and  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  .\rt.  as 
the  outgrowth  of  the  Park  organization  ;  while  these  and  the  Meteorological 
Observatory  have  come  to  be  the  foremost  institutions  of  their  kind  on  the 
continent. 

With  respeet  to  the  administration  of  the  Park  by  Mr.  Green,  the  utmost 
vigilance  and  careful  supervision  were  constantly  exercised.  Employees  were 
retained  in  office,  promoted,  and  eomi>ensated  according  to  merit;   a  classilic.i- 


8 


tion  of  the  Police  and  other  force  was  maintained,  and  promotions  made  from 
one  grade  to  another  ;  gardeners  were  engaged  and  promoted  with  regard  to 
their  fitness,  which  was  ascertained  by  an  examination  as  to  their  botanical 
knowledge  and  practical  skill,  and  other  employees  upon  the  same  general 
basis ;  no  politic  il  considerations  were  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  system  ; 
and  a  practical  civil  service  reform  was  established  and  successfully  carried  on, 
years  before  the  popular  agitation  on  the  subject  had  commenced. 

It  is  hardly  practicable  here  to  enter  upon  Mr.  Green's  work  in  detail.  Dur- 
ing the  period  of  thirteen  years,  amid  constant  strife  with  the  growing  Ring, 
and  controversies  with  those  who  desired  to  use  the  park  for  political  purposes, 
he  never  swerved  from  his  desire  of  making  it  a  pleasure-ground  for  the  people 
and  a  rich  inheritance  for  their  children.  In  all  that  time  the  Park  Commission 
was  scarcely  ever  involved  in  a  law-suit ;  its  affairs  were  wisely  and  economically 
administered,  while  his  own  services,  given  exclusively  to  this  work,  were  inade- 
quately compensated  at  the  average  rate  of  about  $5,500  per  annum. 

A  striking  evidence  of  his  determination  not  to  profit  personally  by  his  con- 
nection with  public  affairs  is  seen  in  a  letter  written  in  1868,  declining  the 
offer  of  a  complete  equipage  of  carriage,  harness,  and  horses,  made  to  him  by 
Mr.  Daly  on  behalf  of  several  gentlemen  of  this  city. 

"  While  I  highly  value,''  he  says,  "  the  kind  -sentiments  expressed  in  your 
"  note,  and  fully  recognize  the  liberal  proposition  it  contains,  and  while  I  should 
"  have  been  very  glad  to  have  accepted  the  establishment,  as  an  expression  of 
"the  appreciation  of  the  donors,  I  feel  that  I  must  decline  to  do  so,  and  I 
11  think  on  reflection  you  will  agree  with  me  that  this  is  best.  With  the  purest 
"  intention  on  the  part  of  yourself  and  of  the  gentlemen  you  represent,  as  well  as 
"  on  my  own,  there  are  those  who  might  make  its  acceptance  the  occasion  of 
' 1  criticism.  Will  you  do  me  the  kindness  to  convey  these  sentiments  to  the 
"gentlemen  associated  with  you.'' 

In  the  year  1870  the  designs  of  the  Ring  against  the  Park  culminated,  and  the 
Commission,  which  up  to  this  time  had  been  a  State  organization,  was  super- 
seded by  a  department  of  the  Municipal  Government,  consisting  of  five  Commis- 
sioners, to  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor.  Mr.  Green  was  the  first  to  take  the 
official  oath  as  Park  Commissioner  in  1857,  and  nearly  thirteen  years  thereafter, 
it  wa,s  left  to  him  by  his  associates  to  hand  over  the  great  works  under  their 
charge,  to  the  "  Ring  "  Department  that  succeeded  them  under  the  Charter  of 
1870. 

The  last  official  act  of  Mr.  Green's  associates  in  the  outgoing  Board  was  to 
leave  on  record  a  testimonial  of  their  recognition  of  his  services,  which  may,  with 
very  great  fitness,  be  introduced  here,  and  which  reads  as  follows  : 

''Having  presented  the  above  address  as  the  official  act  of  the  Board,  there 
"  remains  to  be  performed  by  the  undersigned  an  act  of  justice  and  of  duty,  in  a 
"  full  recognition  of  the  obligations  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Park,  and  of  the 
* '  community,  to  Mr.  Andrew  H.  Green,  their  late  associate  in  the  Commis- 
"  sion,  and  Comptroller  of  the  Park,  with  whom  their  official  relations  are  now 
' '  severed. 


9 


"At  an  early  day,  Mr.  Green  exhibited  those  characteristics,  that  justified 
*'  the  Commissioners  in  committing  to  him  a  large  discretion  and  important 
"  responsibilities. 

''His  calm  and  reliable  judgment  and  vigorous  execution,  and  his  cultivated 
taste,  added  to  a  patient  forbearance  and  singleness  of  purpose,  rendered  him  an 
*•  administrative  officer  fully  adequate  to  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  his 
44  executive  position, and  it  gives  the  retiring  Commissioners  unqualified  pleasure, 
*l  to  pay  this  parting  tribute  to  his  abilities,  his  efficiency  and  his  integrity." 

(Signed)  HENRY  G.  STEBBINS, 

R.  W.  BLATCHFORD, 
J.  F.  BUTTERWORTH, 
CHARLES  H.  RUSSELL, 
M.  H.  GRINNELL, 
WALDO  HUTCHINS. 

During  the  interval  which  elapsed  between  the  retirement  of  the  old  Park 
Board,  in  April,  1870,  and  the  final  collapse  of  the  Ring  in  September,  1871, 
Mr.  Green  was  still  a  Commissioner  of  the  Department  of  Parks,  though  his 
influence  in  the  Board  was  altogether  neutralized  by  his  three  associates,  Peter 
B.  Sweeney,  Henry  Hilton,  and  Thos.  C.  Fields.  He  conceived  it,  however,  to 
be  his  duty  not  to  resign,  but  to  remain  in  the  Board,  and  it  is,  no  doubt,  due 
to  the  fact  of  his  presence  in  the  Board,  and  to  his  constant  vigilance  that  the 
ignorant  and  wanton  measures  of  Sweeney  and  Hilton,  which  caused  the  de- 
struction of  Professor  Hawkins'  restorations  of  extinct  animals,  and  the  ruthless 
sacrifice  of  whole  plantations  of  trees  and  shrubbery,  did  not  in  like  maimer 
effect  the  ruin  of  other  cherished  features  of  the  Park. 

The  circumstances  under  which  Mr.  Green  was,  in  the  fall  of  1871,  called  to 
the  office  of  Comptroller  of  the  city  are  so  familiar  as  not  to  need  repetition  here. 
It  is  enough  to  say,  that  he  accepted  the  direction  of  the  finances  of  the  city 
•with  great  reluctance,  yielding  unwillingly  to  the  persuasions  of  the  late  Mayor 
Havemeyer,  conscious  of  the  labors  and  responsibilities  which  he  would  assume. 
He  left  a  lucrative  and  congenial  financial  position  upon  which  his  exemption 
from  active  duty  in  the  Park  Department  had  allowed  him  to  enter,  to  become 
the  servant  of  the  public  in  a  larger  sense  than  ever  before,  and  to  receive,  as 
he  clearly  apprehended,  the  lesser  gains  and  thankless  tasks  of  a  public  office. 

More  than  five  years  have  now  elapsed  since  that  time,  during  all  of  which 
interval  Mr.  Green's  life  has  been  public  property  and  his  actions  subject  to 
every  variety  of  criticism.  Setting  out  on  the  principle!  of  strict  adherence  to 
the  law,  and  impartial  scrutiny  of  claims,  with  an  inflexible  determination  to 
protect  the  city  from  spoliation,  and  to  do  equal  justice  to  all  who  might  have 
-dealings  with  the  treasury,  he,  naturally  enough,  encountered  opposition  from 
those  whose  purposes  were  thus  frustrated.  The  people  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal,  consisted  almost  exclusively  of  a  creditor  element.  That  element  was 
largely  corrupt  and  the  payment  of  their  claims  was  delayed,  till  they  could  be 
thoroughly  examined,  while  current  claimants  were  promptly  paid,  of  whom  no 


10 


one  ever  heard,  they  taking  their  money  and  going1  home  entirely  satisfied.  The 
corrupt  claimants,  however,  were  brisk  to  enlighten  the  public  as  to  their  pre- 
tended wrongs,  careful  not  to  state  the  cause  of  the  delay,  confusing  the  public 
mind  with  vague  allegations  of  obstruction  on  the  part  of  the  Comptroller. 

Of  course,  during  the  first  two  years  of  Mr.  Green's  administration,  while  the 
bulk  of  rotten  matters  left  by  the  Ring  was  still  unsettled,  his  controversies 
were  the  most  severe.  During  that  time  he  was  on  several  occasions  exposed  to 
personal  assault  from  violent  men,  whose  passions  had  been  inflamed  by  their 
own  fancied  grievances  o»  by  the  incitements  of  their  political  associates  who 
stood  in  the  background.  In  proportion,  however,  as  the  old  matters  of  the 
Ring  were  settled,  these  disturbing  elements  were  dissipated,  and  while  the. 
period  of  five  years  has  not  sufficed  altogether  to  close  up  the  confused  and  em- 
barrassed estate  which  Mr.  Green  found  on  his  hands,  it  has  nevertheless  dis- 
posed of  a  vast  mass  of  affairs,  and  extricated  the  city  from  what  at  that  time 
seemed  inevitable  bankruptcy. 

When  Mr.  Green  came  into  the  office  of  Comptroller  in  the  fall  of  1871,  he 
found  the  tax  levy  of  the  year  already  entirely  exhausted,  the  accounts  over- 
drawn, and  no  provision  to  meet  either  the  revenue  bonds  of  the  city,  then 
rapidly  maturing,  the  current  expenditures  of  the  Departments,  or  the  salaries 
of  thousands  of  employees  who  then  filled  the  pay-rolls.  Every  dollar  had  been 
abstracted  from  the  Treasury  before  the  collapse  ;  the  city  had  virtually  sus- 
pended payments  ;  its  credit,  under  recent  developments,  was  greatly  weakened  ; 
and,  had  no  change  of  administration  been  effected,  it  must  necessarily  have 
ceased  all  operations. 

The  averting  of  these  consequences  by  the  transfer  of  authority  to  Mr. 
Green  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated. 

His  earliest  step  was  to  provide  for  immediate  and  pressing  liabilities,  by  bor- 
rowing money  on  his  own  responsibility.  The  legal  authority  to  raise  money 
on  city  bonds  had  been  exhausted  by  the  Ring ;  no  fresh  supply  could  be  ob- 
tained, until  the  Legislature  met,  three  months  later.  But  the  merchants  and 
bankers  of  the  city  were  prompt  to  recognize  Mr.  Green's  determination  to 
i?ise  the  municipality  out  of  the  slough  into  which  it  had  fallen,  and  came- 
willingly  to  his  relief.  By  his  individual  efforts,  aided  only  by  these  citizens, 
and  contending  against  every  other  official  and  department  of  the  government, 
he  succeeded  in  tiding  over  the  emergency  and  in  meeting  such  pressing- 
demands  as  were  ascertained  to  be  just  and  proper.  The  work,  however,  of 
liquidating  the  obligations  of  the  Ring,  has  gone  on  without  interruption  from 
that  time  to  this,  and  more  than  twenty  millions  of  them  have  been  liqui- 
dated. 

The  amount  of  unsettled  claims  left  behind  by  Tweed  and  his  coadjutors 
was  roughly  estimated  in  137i,  by  the  Citizens'  Investigating  Committee,  of 
which  William  A.  Booth,  Esq.,  was  chairman,  at  twenty-three  millions  of  dollars 
($23,000,000).  In  October,  1874,  in  a  communication  upon  the  municipal  debts, 
Mr.  Green  reported  that  liabilities  of  this  class,  amounting  to  $19,885,591.08, 
had  been  adjusted,  and  remarks  that  "the  twenty  millions  thus  accounted  for 


11 


"certainly  do  notrepresent  the  entire  amount  of  the  floating  unliquidated  claims 
"existing  when  I  [he]  took  office.''  To  this  he  adds:  "Their  entire  amount  will 

only  be  ascertained,  after  protracted  litigation,  and  after  the  success  or  failure 
"of  the  city  has  been  demonstrated  to  defend  itself  against  cunningly  devised 
"  claims  of  vast  amount  and  almost  entirely  fraudulent  character." 

A  recent  contributor  to  one  of  the  Nuo  York  d<ri!j/  jouvnol*  remarks  upon  this 
subject :  "  The  floating  debt  of  this  city  is  like  that  of  a  more  or  less  immethod- 
w  ical  family,  which  runs  one  score  at  the  grocers,  another  at  the  bakers,  a 
fl  third  at  the  tavern,  and  a  fomth  at  the  laundry.  Such  minor  bills,"  he  says, 
' 1  which  are  really  demand-notes  evaded  and  renewed,  and  yet  bearing  interest 
"  and  subject  to  augmentation  by  the  dishonesty  or  error  of  the  creditors, 
"finally  assume  ruinous  proportions,  and,  if  filed  against  an  estate,  are  as  bind- 
"  ing  as  one's  bond  and  mortgage  and  taxes  and  insurance." 

Of  this  same  matter  Mr.  Green,  himself,  in  the  communication  already 
mentioned,  speaks  in  bold  and  emphatic  terms  : 

"  Only  a  small  proportion,"  he  says,  "  of  this  monstrous  legacy  of  corruption 
"  and  misgovernment  was  free  from  evidence  of  the  most  ingeniously  and  dia- 
"bolically  contrived  fraud.  For  three  years  the  million  headed  hydra  has  been 
"  struggling  to  force  the  doors  of  the  Treasury.  It  has  bought,  bribed,  and 
"  brought  to  its  aid,  by  the  offer  of  a  division  of  profits  in  case  of  success,  the 
"  fraud,  the  craft,  and  the  greed  of  the  most  unscrupulous  lawyers,  legislators, 
"  and  plotters  in  the  comnmnity.  It  has  tainted  the  press,  dictated  political 
"nominations,  retained  certain  serviceable  officials  in  office,  and  obstructed 
"  the  development  of  reformed  methods  of  government." 

It  was  impossible  to  add  this  load  to  the  weight  of  taxes,  with  which  the  city 
was  already  burdened,  and  no  course  existed,  except  to  pay  off  the  claims  with  t  he 
issue  of  bonds,  thereby  augmenting  the  permanent  debt  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Green's  report  in  1874,  by  $20,000,000,  for  which  Tweed  and  his  coadjutors  kn 
as  much  responsible,  as  for  the  $50,000,000  of  additional  indebtedness  which 
they  had  openly  incurred. 

Tu  prevent  the  growth  of  any  more  debt  of  this  character  by  rigorously  keep- 
ing the  expenses  of  the  Departments  within  their  appropriations,  has  ever  Bin 06 
been  Mr.  Green's  persistent  endeavor. 

M  I  have  bent  all  my  efforts,''  he  says  in  his  same  communication  of  October 
13,  1874,  "to  correct  this  enormous  evil  of  the  creation  of  a  floating  debt,  and 
have  endeavored  to  establish  a  system  that  would  ensure  the  raising  w  ithin  the 
year,  of  all  the  expenses  of  the  year.  That  system,  so  far  as  the  Finance  De- 
partment can  establish  it,  has  now  become  the  settled  habit  of  the  government, 
and  no  new  floating  indebtedness  of  any  considerable  amount  has  been  created, 
since  I  came  into  office.  What  has  been  accomplished  in  this  direction,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  has  been  in  spite  of  the  precedents  of  a  long  period  of  misgovernment, 
which  die  hard  and  slowly  ;  in  spite  of  legislators,  local  and  State,  at  each  suc- 
cessive session,  contriving  schemes,  at  the  expense  of  the  city,  to  reward  j>er- 
sonal  favorites  or  political  allies ;  in  spite  of  the  most  latitudinarian  construc- 
tions of  law\  and  in  spite  of  the  loose  ideas  and  methods  of  administration  pre- 


12 


vailing  in  some  Departments.  The  task  has  been  by  no  means  an  easy  one,  and 
it  has  invoked  the  persistent  and  virulent  animosity  of  those  in  and  oat  of 
office,  who  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  motives  which  guided  it." 

This  single  phase  of  Mr.  Green's  work  as  Comptroller,  may  convey  some  idea 
of  the  magnitude  and  intricacy  of  the  affairs  with  which  he  has  had  to  deal. 
To  treat  of  them  here  in  any  detail  would  be  manifestly  impracticable.  To 
summarize  them  even,  is  a  work  of  no  little  labor.  Perhaps  no  more  graphic 
generalization  of  the  subject  can  be  presented,  than  has  already  been  written, 
in  the  following  language,  by  the  same  journalist  already  quoted: 

"The  above  is  an  imperfect  account,"  he  says,  "  of  the  work  of  Andrew  H. 
*'  Green  in  the  least  luxurious  and  the  most  laborious  Department  of  the  city. 
u  Dealing  with  figures  and  accounts,  and  resisting  each  if  suspected,  as  if  it  were 
"  an  armed  enemy,  he  has  made  the  stewards  of  the  city,  high  and  low,  under- 
* '  stand  that  the  Corporation  is  not  merely  a  machine  to  supply  patronage,  but  a 
1 '  business  institution.  He  found  the  most  confused  and  abominable  government 
"  in  the  world  with  an  empty  exchequer,  the  public  conscience  debauched,  no 
*'  responsibility  for  malfeasance,  and  the  people  indifferent,  and  he  may  be  said, 

in  the  language  of  Webster,  as  applied  to  Hamilton,  to  have  touched  the  dead 
*'  corpse  of  public  credit  and  it  sprung  upon  its  feet.  As  frugal  of  his  time  as  of 
"  the  public  money,  he  wasted  little  of  it  upon  delinquents,  shysters,  and  the 
"  runners  of  men  employed  to  take  the  taxes  from  the  rich  and  put  them  upon 
41  the  poor.  Blunt  and  fearless,  he  spoke  directly  and  to  the  point,  acknowl- 
"  edging  but  one  tyrant — the  city — and  standing  guard  at  the  door  of  her 
"  treasury.  Overgrown  corporations,  accustomed  to  own  lawyers  and  judges  too, 
u  felt  exasperated  that  a  single  man  dare  to  defy  them,  unaware  perhaps  that 
*'  the  restrictions  they  desired  to  break  through,  were  part  of  the  great  centre  line 
' '  for  the  preservation  of  their  property  and  the  protection  of  the  general  camp. 
"  A  military  spirit,  such  as  the  paymaster  of  an  army  must  assume,  has  marked 
u  Andrew  H.  Green  from  the  outset,  whose  annual  disbursement  is  equal  to  that 
li  of  the  army  of  the  United  States ;  yet,  with  the  noisy  clamor  about  his  obstruc- 
"  tion  and  delay,  the  average  time  for  passing  claims  through  the  Department  is 
"  less  than  four  days. 

"  The  terrible  debauchery  through  which  New  York  passed  in  the  days  of  the 
*'  Ring,  demanded  the  assumption  of  stern,  magisterial  powers,  that  the  public 
11  mind  might  feel  a  sense  of  example  and  authority,  and  be  disciplined  to  the 
"  work  of  self-government  again.  Mr.  Green  will  take  rank  in  the  fiscal  history 
*'  of  New  York,  as  the  great  Comptroller—  one  of  three  or  four  who  sprang  back 
<c  from  the  lassitude  of  the  long  dominion  of  the  Ring,  with  all  the  austerity  of  a 
il  Brutus,  a  Sully,  or  a  Hardenberg.  Inspired  by  his  example,  the  other  great 
*'  cities  of  the  country  which  had  modelled  their  corruption  upon  New  York,  have 
14  taken  their  affairs  in  hand  and  learned  the  lesson,  that  the  talents  of  a  fiduciary 
"  officer  are  not  plausibility,  conciliation,  or  subterfuge,  but  honesty,  firmness, 
*'  and  civic  patriotism." 

Reviewing,  then,  Mr.  Green's  life  during  the  past  twenty  years,  we  notice  a 
steady  progress,  not  only  in  official  elevation,  but  in  the  development  of  his 


13 


qualifications  for  important  public  trusts.  From  the  sc  hool  officer  of  a  score 
of  years  ago,  dealing  tentatively  with  questions  that  were  then  just  beginning 
to  excite  popular  interest,  he  has  become  the  successful  administrator  of  an  en- 
terprise involving  singular  responsibilities  and  demanding  talents  of  a  peculiar 
and  varied  character;  and,  later  still,  has  grasped  the  subject  of  municipal 
finances  with  an  intelligent  comprehension  and  firmness  of  hold,  unparalleled 
in  the  later  history  of  New  York,  applying  to  it  all  the  convictions  of  his  earlier 
years  and  the  experiences  of  public  life,  through  which  he  has  subsequently 
passed. 

Mr.  Green's  term  of  official  life  as  Comptroller  is  drawing  to  a  close.  It  is 
difficult  to  say,  in  the  uncertainty  of  political  movement  and  combinations, 
whether  his  eminent  services  are  to  be  retained  by  the  community  in  this  or 
in  some  other  capacity.  But  it  is  certainly  the  part  of  good  judgment  to  confide 
the  direction  of  affairs,  to  those  who  have  had  the  largest  experience  in  public 
life,  ard  whose  success  has  demonstrated  the  greatest  fitness  and  fidelity  in 
dealing  with  important  trusts. 

In  a  published  letter  to  the  late  Mayor  Havemeyer,  the  Hon.  Daniel  F. 
Tiemann,  then  in  the  Senate,  and  formerly  Mayor  of  the  city,  referring  to  his 
experience  as  Senator,  said  : 

"I  have  known  Mr  Green  well  for  many  years;  he  has  done  as  much  for 
"  the  improvement  of  the  city  as  any  man  in  it.      *      *  * 

kt  It  was  an  almost  daily  necessity  for  me  to  obtain  information  from  the 
**  Comptroller,  to  oppose  and  defeat  these  schemes.  He  always  furnished  it 
'*  fearlessly  and  ful]y,  without  any  of  that  squirming  and  dodging  of  the 
"  politician,  who  fears  that  he  may  lose  the  vote  of  some  thief,  by  refusing  to 

aid  some  scheme  of  plunder.'1 

Mr.  Green  said  in  a  speech  in  the  maket-place,  soon  after  entering  on 
his  present  field  of  duty,  "  that  reform  meant  progress  and  development;  it 
14  meant  better  administration,  honesty  in  public  affairs,  the  increase  of  the  com- 
*4  forts  of  living,  and  the  lessening  of  the  burdens  of  taxation.     \Y*e  must  have 
* '  wiih  any  continued  growth,  which  I  look  for  with  steady  confidence,  new 
"docks  and  piers,  new  school-houses,  better  paved  and  cleaner  avenues  and 
streets,  new  and  better  connections  between  the  island  and  surrounding  cities, 
••  better  market  buildings,  an  extended  water  supply,  and  a  continued  improve- 
"  raent,  in  the  class  of  men  who  are  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  city." 
In  a  report  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  in  1874.  Mr  Green  said  : 
44  A  clamor  against  the  Finance  Department  has  been  g<  tt<-n  up  by  holders  of 
fraudulent  claims,  and  festered  by  certain  unprincipled  newspapers,  on  the 
n  charge  of  delay  ill  the  adjustment  and  payment  of  bills,  incurred  by  the 
various  City  Departments.    This  is  without  just  cause  as  respects  the  gTeat 
"  bulk  of  the  immense  number  of  accounts  and  vouchers,  audited  by  the  Finance 
M  Department. 

M  Their  average  time  during  1874.  for  passing  through  the  Department  from 
*'  the  date  of  receipt  to  the  date  of  payment,  including  all  classes  of  claims  and 
44  liabilities  for  contracts  and  supplies,  is  less  than  four  days. 


14 


"  No  claims,  perhaps,  were,  as  a  class,  more  audaciously  fraudulent  and  dis- 
' 1  graceful,  than  those  for  newspaper  advertising,  during  the  Ring  administra- 
"  tion.  The  1  Transcript  Association  '  alone  was  paid  $783,498.09,  and  an  un- 
"  adjusted  claim  of  this  concern  is  now  presented  for  $186,160.20. 

"  The  moneys  actually  paid  for  advertising  during  the  three  years, 

u  1869,  1870,  and  1871,  were  $2,586,477  00 

"  Total  outlay  for  the  three  years  following  that  period,  1872, 

"  1873,  and  1874,  including  the  cost  of  the  1  City  Record,'  is. .     212,^38  37 

' '  Showing  a  decrease  in  this  class  of  expenditures  during  the  pres- 

"•  ent  Comptroller's  administration  of   $2,374,038  63 

— being  a  reduction  or  saving  of  over  ninety-one  per  cent. 

"  The  current  claims  for  which  value  has  been  given  to  the  city,  are  and  have 
"  been  recognized  and  promptly  liquidated.  The  other  class  of  claims  for 
"  which  no  value  has  been  given,  which  were  conceived  in  the  lobby  and  are 
"  held  and  promoted  by  that  disreputable  class,  who  are  enabled  by  craft  and 
"  cunning  to  live  without  labor,  out  of  the  earnings  of  honest  and  industrious 
"  men,  have  no  foundation  either  in  justice  or  in  equity.  The  courts  ought  to 
' '  find  some  ground  for  discrimination  against  them,  and  every  agency  of  the 
"  government  should  be  prompt  to  intercept  their  progress  to  the  door  of  the 
"^treasury  and  to  frustrate  and  defeat  them. 

"  Why  should  the  tax-payers  of  this  city,  and  by  the  tax-payers  I  do  not  refer 
"  alone  to  that  class  to  whom  the  payment  of  a  thousand  dollars,  more  or  less, 
' '  involves  no  diminution  of  comforts,  but  especially  to  those  less  favored,  who 
' '  in  these  times  of  depression  find  it  difficult  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door, 
"  and  to  maintain  a  roof  over  the  head  of  their  families — why  should  these  have 
"  their  frugal  earnings  diminished,  to  pay  a  monstrous  class  of  fraudulent 
"  claims,  for  which  no  value  has  been  given,  and  which  are  principally  held  by 
"  public  leeches,  who  have  never  done  an  honest  day's  work  in  their  lives  ! 

"There  are  men  among  us  who  are  now  marshaling  the  influence,  the  inge- 
"  nuity,  and  the  greed  of  attorneys,  lobbyists,  and  journalists,  to  get  from  the 
"  treasury,  on  single  claims,  without  value  rendered,  amounts  that,  if  distributed 
*'  for  honest  service,  would,  in  these  pinching  times,  gladden  the  hearts  of  a 
"  whole  community. 

"Is  there,  in  the  whole  machinery  of  justice,  no  process  by  which  such  wrongs 
"  can  be  prevented  ?  Must  the  whole  train  of  precedents  be  harnessed  to  the 
1 '  service  of  the  idle,  the  crafty,  and  the  depraved  against  the  frugal  and  indus- 
"  trious ! 

"  In  my  official  action  I  shall  not  cease  to  recognize  the  rights  of  those  who 
"  have  rendered  a  fair  equivalent  for  the  amount  they  seek  to  obtain,  and  every 
"  energy  that  I  possess  shall  be  exercised  to  defend  the  trust  which  I  have  been 
"  set  to  protect  against  depredators,  whether ,  in  the  garb  of  seeming  respecta- 
"  bility,  or  that  of  corrupt  or  dishonest  conspirators. 

"  It  is  quite  natural  that  the  shareholders  in  those  gas  companies,  who  have 
"  been  in  the  habit  of  receiving  from  30  to  50  per  cent,  per  annum  in  dividends, 
"  should  consider  the  Comptroller  an  obstructionist.    I  presume,  however,  tax- 


15 


"  payers  will  not  object  to  that  sort  of  obstruction  which  has  effected  a  reduction 
44  in  the  cost  of  lighting-  the  streets  of  the  city,  as  shown  by  the  following  coin- 
M  parison  of  prices  charged  per  lamp  per  annum,  in  1871  and  1874: 


Company. 

1871. 

1874. 

Number  of 
Lamps. 

li  Mannattan  Gas-light  Company. .  . 
"  New  York        "  " 
"Metropolitan     "  " 
"  Harlem            "  '* 
"  N.  Y.  Mutual    "             "  ... 

$53  00 
45  00 
53  00 
53  00 

$33  00 
33  00 
39  00 
39  00 
35  00 

6,501 
3,010 
3,488 
4,025 

583 

"In  1871  the  cost  of  gas  was  about  $1,000,000.  and  in  1874  the  saving  was 
*4  more  than  one-third  of  that  amount. 


THE  AMOUNT  SAVED  TO  THE  CITY  BY  LITIGATION  DURING  THE  SAME 
PERIOD  BY  DECISION  IN  ITS  FAVOR. 

"The  judgments  obtained  against  the  < ity  within  the  last  three  years  were, 
' 1  as  has  been  stated,  very  generally  based  on  claims  of  fraudulent  or  extravagant 
"  character;  it  therefore  became  the  duty  of  the  Comptroller  to  resist  such  as 
"were  not  clearly  exempt  from  any  objections  of  this  sort.  The  courts  of  this 
"  city  are  maintained  out  of  the  public  treasury,  at  the  cost  of  more  than  one 

million  of  dollars  per  annum.  They  are  furnished  with  criers,  clerks,  attend- 
14  ants,  juries,  and  all  the  means  of  ascertaining  the  truth  ;  they  can  summon 
*'  witnesses  and  punish  them  for  false  testimony.  The  city  is  provided  with  a 
"  Law  Department,  having  a  retinue  of  counsel,  clerks,  and  assistants,  main- 
"  tained  at  a  cost  of  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  Cases 
"against  the  city  are,  by  law,  given  a  preference  before  i  11  other  cases,  and  are 
u  speedily  reached.  What  is  all  this  machinery  of  courts  and  lawyers  paid  by 
11  the  city  for,  unless  it  be  to  act  in  just  such  emergencies  as  have  arisen  ?  It  is 
11  the  business  of  the  courts  to  examine  and  determine  upon  the  legality  of  these 
u  claims.    T.  at  is  what  they  are  constituted  for." 

The  following  statement  shows  the  total  saving  effected  during  Comptroller 


Green's  administrrtion  to  December  31,  1874  : 

M  On  suits  thus  far  decided  in  favor  of  the  city   £8,496,682  68 

11  On  claims  adjusted  in  the  Department  '.       S5M.912  S7 


"  Total  savings   $3,31::.:.!:)  96 


"  It  will  be  seen  that  the  great  bulk  of  judgments  against  the  city  obtained 
"since  the  present  Comptroller  took  office  originated  in  transactions  which  took 
"  place  before  that  time,  in  an  era  of  unexampled  official  corruption  and  reckl. m 
"extravagance.  They  grew  out  of  laws  framed  by  conspiiators  and  public 
"plunderers  in  their  own  interest.     These  claims  very  generally  bore  th"  badge 


16 


"  of  fraud  and  official  malversation,  but  being  apparently  contracted  under  some 
"color  of  law,  they  have,  under  the  faintest  pretext  and  technicali;ies,  often 
"without  equity  and  justice,  been  pressed  upon  courts  under  the  prevailing 
"influences  of  the  hour,  to  the  detriment  of  the  City  Treasury,  whose  protectors 
' '  are  but  few. 

"  Laws  framed  to  promote  private  interest  at  the  public  expense  still  remain 
"  on  the  statute  book,  giving  rise  to  unjust  claims  against  the  city,  for  which  no 
"monetary  provision  is  made.  The  claimants,  and  their  attorneys  practised  in 
"the  art,  knowing  that  their  claims  cannot  be  paid  until  put  in  the  form  of  a 
' '  compulsory  judgment,  readily  resort  to  this  favorite  method. 

"But  the  fact  remains  to  be  stated,  that  notwithstanding  the  bulk  of 
"  rotten  claims  precipitated  upon  the  Comptroller  from  a  previous  regime,  the 
k '  amount  of  judgments  obtained  against  the  city  during  his  administration  is 
"  less  by  one- third  than  it  was  during  the  previous  three  years.  The  amount  of 
"  judgments  and  costs  against  the  city  for  three  years  prior  to  September  1G, 
u  1871,  was  $3,221,821.05.  Amount  for  the  same  period  since  September  10, 
"  1871,  was  $1,935,389.04." 

In  his  efforts  to  prevent  the  payment  of  corrupt  claims,  Comptroller  Green 
has  been  compelled  to  leave  the  claimants  to  establish  their  claims,  if  they 
could,  in  the  courts,  and  that  class  of  people  who  were  the  recipients  of  the 
millions  of  corrupt  payments,  made  by  Connolly,  have  not  failed  to  falsify  the 
facts  in  this  matter. 

In  the  same  report  Mr.  Green  says  : 

THE  AMOUNT  OF  THE  JUDGMENTS  OBTAINED  AGAINST  THE  CITY  DURING 
HIS  TERM  OF  OFFICE,  WITH  THE  COSTS  TAXED  UPON  THE  CITY. 

"  From  September  1G,  1871 ,  when  the  present  Comptroller  took  office,  to  De- 
"  cember  31,  1874,  a  period  of  more- than  three  and  a  quarter  years,  the  total 
"  number  of  judgments  obtained  against  the  city,  including  costs  taxed  upon 
"the  city,  was  844,  including  272  for  vacating  assessments,  amounting*  to 
$1,935,389.04,  in  which  sum  was  included  for  costs,  $63,082,28. 
"  Five  hundred  and  seventy  of  these  judgments,  amounting  (in- 

"  eluding  costs,  $45,831.97)  to  $1,371,380  73 

' '  Or  about  two-thirds  of  the  whole  in  number  obtained,  and 

"  more  than  one-half  in  amount  are  on  causes  of  action 

"  originating  prior  to  the  present  Comptroller's  accession 

"  to  office. 

"  Forty-three  of  them  are  for  salaries  of  Supervisors  in  addition 


"  to  their  salaries  as  Aldermen,  amounting  to   13,987  82 

1 '  Fifty-six  are  for  wages  of  Boulevard  men,  supposed  to  have 

"  been  illegally  employed,  amounting  to'.   8,819  18 

"  One  hundred  and  seventy-five  are  miscellaneous,  amounting 

"to   541,201  31 


"  Total  $1,935,389  04" 


17 


4  *  Judgments  obtained  in  favor  of  the  city  are  not  included  in  the  above. n 

These  statements  were  carefully  compiled  up  to  January  1,  1875,  and  the> 
*aving  as  the  result  of  litigation  since  that  time  has  been  much  greater.  There 
has  been  saved  to  the  city,  in  all  probability,  in  each  one  of  twenty  individual 
cases  more  money  than  all  the  costs  have  amounted  to  in  all  the  eases  since  Mr. 
Green  came  into  office. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  character  of  some  of  the  judgments  given  against  the 
city,  the  following  will  suffice  : 

Forty-three  judgments  were  given  for  salaries  of  Supervisors  in  addition  to 
their  salaries  as  Aldermen,  notwithstanding  express  provisions  of  law  to  the 
contrary. 

A  judgment  was  given  against  the  city  for  over  $130,600,  for  paving  Seventh 
avenue  with  wood     The  whole  cost  of  the  job  was  $483,000. 

A  judgment  was  given  for  $366,926.80,  against  the  city  in  favor  of  the  Man- 
hattan Gas  Co.,  for  gas  of  1871,  being  a  reduction  of  $60,000  on  the  amount 
claimed  by  the  company. 

A  judgment  of  $389,224.66  was  entered  on  the  report  of  Delano  C.  Calvin, 
for  law  services  in  petty  excise  cases. 

This  whole  claim,  it  has  been  stated,  was  offered  for  $1,250. 

These  are  but  a  mere  sample  of  hundreds,  if  not  thousands  of  claims,  and  is 
it  expected  that  Mr.  Green  is  to  pay  them  without  resistance  ? 

Often  the  decision  of  one  case  involves  many  others  ;  thus,  with  a  decision 
on  one  newspaper  claim  of  about  S:{.000,  fell  more  than  S300,000  of  a  similar 
character. 

A  decision  on  one  armory  suit,  involving  $15, COO.  carried  down  with  it  claims 
of  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars. 

These  are  samples  of  cases  where  the  claimants  were  dereated,  and  judg- 
ments were  had  in  favor  of  the  city. 

JOHN  KELLTJM  sued,  for  services  as  architect  on  the  new  Court-house,  for 
aboui  #192,000,  and  was  defeated. 

MATTHEW  T.  BreNKAN,  late  Sheriff,  sued  for  about  $50,000. 

He  not  only  failed  to  recover,  but  the  jury  gave  judgment  against  him  for 
s:J5,000,  making  a  difference  in  favor  of  the  city  of  $85,000,  and  tin  prin- 
ciple of  the  decision  settled  an  amount  in  favor  of  the  city  of  about  $  1 50,000, 
besides  influencing  for  all  time  the  charges  of  the  Sheriff's  Office. 

Tiik  Transcript  NEWSPAPER  brought  a  suit  for  some  $S}0fl0 ;  a  judgment 
was  given  in  favor  of  the  city,  which  determines  the  claims  of  the  same  pa  per 
of  over  $200,000. 

A  suit  of  Ed  WARD  JONES  and  W.M.  0.  ROGERS  is  now  before  a  referee  for 
nearly  a  million  of  dollars,  for  stationery ;  it  is  jet  undecided. 

Another  suit  on  the  NayARRO  WATER  METER  Claim,  ol  KHARL1  v  mil 
Lion,  is  still  before  a  referee. 

A  suit  brought  by  the  TENTH  RATIONAL  BANK,  for  $230,000,  has  been 
decided  in  favor  of  the  city,  all  the  way,  and  finally,  by  the  Court  of  Appeals. 

These  nre  but  a  few  of  many  similar  cases. 


18 


From  1865  to  1870,  Mr.  Green  contribute!  valuable  essays  on  the  plan  for 
laying  out  the  north  and  west  sides  of  this  island,  and  of  the  lower  part  of 
Westchester  County,  for  the  improvement  of  the  Harlem  river  and  Spuyten 
Duyvil  creek,  for  bridges  and  tunnels  across  the  same,  and  for  the  supply  of 
the  annexed  district  with  water.  These  essays  were  practical  discussions  of 
subjects  of  immediate  importance  to  this  city,  and  have  become  the  basis  of 
action  of  every  public  body  since  charged  with  any  duty  respecting  them. 

A  report  presented  February  16,  1874,  is  the  first  effort  made  to  systematize 
the  constitution  of  Police  Courts  find  places  of  detention  of  prisoners.  This  re- 
port said  : 

"  I  have  taken  pains  to  ascertain  the  conditions  that  should  control  in  the 
location  of  a  new  prison.  This  is  not  an  easy  task.  Various  elements  are  in- 
volved ;  that  of  transportation  of  prisoners  to  the  prison,  their  safe  detention 
till  trial,  and,  after  trial,  their  transportation  to  their  ultimate  place  of  confine- 
ment." 

Mr.  Green  has  made  efforts  every  year  at  Albany  to  reform  the  City  Govern- 
ment, to  reduce  its  taxes,  and  to  limit  its  debt,  but  there  he  has  been  met  by 
those  in  and  out  of  the  Legislature  who  were  urging  claims  against  the  city, 
which  he  had  to  resist;  if  they  could  not  get  their  claims  through,  they 
would,  as  a  matter  of  retaliation,  prevent  legislation  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  city. 

Mr.  Green  has  been  called  upon  since  he  became  Comptroller  not  only  to 
settle  the  vast  mass  of  floating  debt  of  the  Ring,  but  to  settle  and  adjust  the 
accounts  of  the  towns  of  West  Farms,  Kingsbridge,  and  Morrisania,  and  bring 
the  village  system  into  accord  with  the  municipal  organizations. 

The  accounts  and  affairs  of  these  towns,  somewhat  complicated  with  those  of 
the  county  of  "Westchester,  and  especially  the  town  of  Morrisania,  were  a  con- 
fused mass,  the  result  of  loose  administrations  for  years. 

Mr.  Green  has  been  always  the  consistent  advocate  of  those  public  improve- 
ments that  tend  to  the  development  and  adornment  of  our  city.  In  carrying  out 
these  improvements,  whether  it  were  a  school  house,  a  prison  building,  a  bridge, 
a  road,  or  a  park,  his  rule  is  to  engage  the  best  talent  to  perfect  the  plan,  and 
then  to  execute  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  ensure  the  best  results  for  the  money 
expended. 

His  modes  of  administration  are  careful  and  strict ;  before  he  proceeds  he 
must  have  the  authority  of  law,  and  where  the  details  of  administration  are  left 
to  his  discretion,  he  constructs  a  conservative  and  sound  system,  within  the  rules 
of  which  he  acts  with  as  much  persistency  as  though  they  were  law,  and  from 
these  rules  it  is  impossible,  by  any  arts,  artifices,  or  seductions,  to  divert  him. 

The  same  rules  govern  his  actions  toward  poor  and  rich,  and  high  and  low, 
and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  disappoint  the  expectations  of  those  who  claim 
exemption  on  account  of  wealth,  or  what  is  called  social  position. 

In  all  history  there  is  no  parallel  to  be  found  to  the  task  he  has  had  to  pre- 


19 


form  in  the  Comptroller's  Office,  in  extricating  the  city  from  the  mass  of 
corruption  in  which  he  found  it,  and  in  restoring-  system,  and  order,  iind 
economy  iuto  our  public  affairs. 

In  this  unprecedented  work  he  has  been  vilified,  abused,  and  maligned,  not 
only  by  hordes  of  rascals,  thieves,  and  scoundrels,  who  have  now  mainly 
vanished  from  dealings  with  the  city,  but  by  seeming  respectabilities  who  could 
not  get  him  to  let  them  off  from  their  just  dues  to  the  city. 

Mr.  Green  has  never  been  what  is  called  a  politician.  Though  a  Democrat, 
his  mental  organization  is  such  that  he  cannot  become  a  violent  partisan,  and 
one  will  look  in  vain  for  his  name  in  the  party  conventions  and  cabals  of  the 
last  twelve  or  fifteen  years. 

OSWALD  OTTENDORFER, 

Chairman. 

RUSH  C.  HAWKTNS, 

Chairman  Ex.  Com. 

Louis  M.  Dorscher, 

Secretary. 


•2.  k  3  S 


